Chigozie Obioma’s Fisherman wins the Art Seidenbaum Award

The Fishermen by Nigerian author Chigozie Obioma has won a prestigious Los Angeles Times Book Prize: The Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction.

In their 36th year, the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes are awarded in nine categories: biography, current interest, fiction, first fiction, history, mystery/thriller, poetry, science and technology, and young adult fiction.

African authors who have won the Art Seidenbaum Award previously include Ethiopian-American novelist Dinaw Mengestu, who won in 2007 for The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears; Nigerian author Uzodinma Iweala, who won in 2005 for Beasts of No Nation; and the late Mark Behr, who won in 1996 for The Smell of Apples. Most recently, Zimbabwean author NoViolet Bulawayo won the award in 2014 for her novel We Need New Names. Read more